What Makes a Man?
by catdompteuse
Summary: -based off song by City and Colour- What makes a man walk away from his mind? I think I know. I think I might know.
1. Chapter 1

Cat's Notes

This is a set of four simple drabbles. All of them are based off the song What Makes a Man? by City and Colour.

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**What makes a man walk away from his mind? **

Uchiha Itachi wasn't used to such thoughts: murder, blood, carnage. They were thoughts that easily drove any many into insanity. Yet he sat as calm as ever, watching as his mother organized the kitchen, wondering if he could just as easily kill her as he did a possible threat to Konoha. However much he knew that he should not be wondering such a thing. It was going to happen; it was inevitable.

And it was that simple thought, the very existence of that thought, which made him want to walk away from his mind.

_I think I know_

What he was doing was _right_, what he was doing was _just_, what he was doing would _save._

No matter how much he tried the lies he told himself wouldn't hold. At this point, thoughts would only get in his way, thoughts would spell his demise. So he murdered them as well, suffocating them with sheer will. He let his mind go then as he bathed his hands in blood.

_I think I might know_


	2. Chapter 2

**What makes a man spend his whole life in disguise?**

**Murderer.**

The word followed in his shadow, a shadow he would gladly be rid of if he could. It was impossible now. Murderer was his disguise and one he could not be rid off unless he told the truth. The truth could not be told. The truth was the clip the kept the cloak of murderer upon his shoulders, hiding the protective peacekeeper underneath. So Itachi squared his shoulders and wore the cloak of Akatsuki without ever letting his cloak slip.

_I think I know_

No matter how much he tried, he couldn't keep the word from hurting him. Forever more, he shall be known as such, a cold-blooded murderer. And just how much was true? Itachi consistently asked himself. The murders he committed for Akatsuki, the murders he committed for Konoha, were the simply just that? Murders? And how many more would he have to do before he was through? Before he could finally shrug off this disguise he wore around his shoulders?

_I think I might know_


	3. Chapter 3

**What makes a man want to break a heart with ease?**

Itachi found that the hardest part of his mission was not murdering his family, but keeping his brother from discovering the truth.

At the beginning, when the Elders first told him what he must do, he would look at Sasuke and try to imagine murdering him in cold blood. The picture was never completed, and more often than not, the image often made his stomach lurch in extreme discomfort. As a result, he ruled out the idea that he could murder Sasuke. Instead, he had to find another way to keep him from coming after him.

_I think I know_

Sasuke had to hate him. It was the only solution that occurred to him after hours upon hours of thinking. Somehow or another, he had to find the strength and courage to make his naive, innocent younger brother hate him with all of his pure heart. To him, the idea was nearly as bad as murdering Sasuke, yet impossibly better. So that evening he made sure Sasuke was busy, made sure he had enough time to murder the clan without his brother witnessing, and then he betrayed his younger brother's trust, obliterated his naivety, and broke his heart.

While his shattered.

_I think I might know_


	4. Chapter 4

**What makes a man pray, when he's about to die?**

He couldn't say that he believed in heaven or even hell, for that matter. In fact, his notion of hell was equivalent to war or anything that spilt unnecessary blood. Hell was easily found in the world of the living, yet, no matter how hard he searched, heaven never revealed itself. Despite all of his rational thoughts about the two seemingly fictional places, Itachi often found himself looking upwards wondering if a heaven really did exist beyond their reach, if angels or the gods really did hear them as they prayed, if he even had a chance of getting there.

_I think I know_

He prayed for time when he began to die, when disease began to ravage his body and the medicines he constantly swallowed seemed to have no effect. He prayed for life when he heard of Sasuke's supposed death after the fight with Deidara. He prayed for trust and love after he spoke with Naruto, and before he entered his final fight with Sasuke. Finally, he said his last prayer for his brother as he smiled his last smile. In his last month, as he knew death quickly approached, he prayed more than his entire his last month of life, he began to hope there was someplace better for him.

In his last month of life, he began to hope there was someplace better for him.

_I think I might know._

**I dare do all that may become a man, who dares do more is none.**

-Macbeth-

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_Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave a review!  
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